Xbox 360

[Euan]

Yeah I still think it's a pretty neat console. I will have a think about buying one when they drop the price, presumably a few weeks before the Playstation 3 comes out - that could take a while though!

There's not that many great games at the moment I don't think. Dead or Alive 4 looks good, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion will naturally be an epic, Ghost Recon looks great but I think it's multi platform and Call of Duty 2 (which I can't play on PC) looks amazing.

I really should get one of these babies :p

[ShadowMarth]

All except DOA you can play on PC I believe. And if the PS3 will really be that expensive then don't count on a price drop.

hes got a mac dude... not much pc gaming =P

[ShadowMarth]

Psh, then get a PC for the gaming. That's all there is to it.

[Euan]

Originally Posted by ShadowMarth

Psh, then get a PC for the gaming. That's all there is to it.

I just wouldn't feel very secure about PC gaming, with all the constant updating and the specs required to run certain games. I'm not too computer-y (apart from messages boards and MSN!) so I wouldn't really know what to do when updating etc.

[ShadowMarth]

Oh, it's not that bad. Besides, by not having one, you're missing out on a lot of great games. Heck, good luck getting a good RTS on any console. The controls just aren't up to it.

[bignds]

constant updating? psh, if you can get a good pc when you purchase, it can last you a good 2 years before any big need of upgrading.

[Pilot_51]

I've been running the same performance hardware (video card, mobo, CPU, etc.) for about 2 years, the last upgrade was my video card (256MB GeForce FX 5700LE with VIVO, $125) and I've been running the same mobo/CPU since 2001 (it has 4x AGP and DDR limited to PC2100). I can still play BF2, which as far as I can tell is the most demanding game I have. I think that's enough evidence that you don't really need to upgrade a lot to be able to play the latest games, unless you're going for top-notch frame rates all the time for all the latest games. All you really need to do is know a little about how PC's work and where to buy quality hardware at the lowest price (http://newegg.com is my pick).

[Euan]

Originally Posted by bignds

constant updating? psh, if you can get a good pc when you purchase, it can last you a good 2 years before any big need of upgrading.

2 years? That's literally no time for a £1000 investment. I don't quite have the disposable income to splash that much on a machine which will only run the top games for two years.

To keep the topic updated, I still do not have a Xbox 360. I'm still semi-interested in owning it at one point, but for the moment my household shall remain Microsoft-less.

[Pilot_51]

Do you run Linux or Mac?

I recently built my sister a gaming PC from the ground up for $1000 (about £500) and I expect that to play most of the latest games for maybe 4 years before the frame rates become unplayable. I also gave my own system a major upgrade in March for a little over $600, although since I was going for budget components right before everything dropped in price, it'll probably play most of the latest games for about 2 or 3 years before frame rates become unplayable.
After the initial build of a gaming PC, it would probably cost about $200/year average to keep it up-to-date, or about one new PC every 5 years.